Interesting this conversation has just popped up, but this tea has been on my mind for a couple years because of it's curious nature. I would like to add to nicks observations and try to prevent any further chastising of nick (ImmortaliTEA). People are calling him "a confused dude" on this blog...So who here has actually tried this, and who here still thinks that this is purely dry stored?

To me this one has the appearance (minus the thin white mold on surface), texture, and characteristics of a dry stored. However, there is a distinct taste (and smell on cake surface) of mold in there. It is not really off putting to me, but it is obvious. For a couple of friends who are more sensitive to mold and wet stored, when I brewed it for them it was immediately obvious to them too.

I had 3 different 10g samples. Last time I drank this was about 5-6 months ago. I still have 4 grams or so. Something draws me away from wanting to finish this off.So in my limited newbish opinion it is dry, but moldy...how? I have no idea...

Differing opinions people? There must be because people praise this thing a lot on other blogs. Gingko when was the last time you tried this?

The samples I had had no signs of mold whatsoever. Of course it is quite possible that one or more tuos is indeed moldy. See Marshaln's recent blog post for an instance where different cakes from the same source were very different from each other.

TokyoB wrote:I tried 2 different 10g samples and found it to be very dry stored. In fact, while I have limited experience with aged tea, this seemed to me to be the most dry stored aged tea I have had.

Did everyone get these samples or tuos from the same place? Same storage?

Hi, I have been a long time lurker here, but I decided to finally post something.

I first bought a sample of this Tuo and it seemed lightly wet stored, faintly greenish in taste with some mellowing but still some astringency. I understand why the seller called it dry stored, but I doubt that it really was.

I later purchases an entire Tuo of this tea, and it was absolutely positively wet stored. the leaves were less shiny than those in my sample, the overall flavor deeper with stronger base notes and fewer top notes, and THERE WAS A LOT OF MOLD in the Tuo, both white and yellow mold, but mostly white. Additionally, there was a fairly notable musty taste that was absent in my sample.

So, I guess I am just writing to affirm the experience of some others with this tea. It is far from nuts, I think, to judge this as a basically wet stored.

Yes a light white frosting on the surface of probably 80% of the chunks in the 30g's I had. Went back and dug up the rest of my samples this morning, it has been sitting alone in mini cardboard box for the past few months, and smells wonderful. The faint smell of mold on the surface is now almost undetectable, I really have to search for it (so perhaps it is entirely gone but I am just trying to find it) but it's still very visible.

Smelled so good perhaps I will give it a brew tonight see what an airing out has done to this tea. I would in no way call my samples extremely wet stored. For me it was more slightly wet stored, with some visible mold. Perhaps explaining the unexpected lack of thickness? The color of the liquor was fairly in line with what I have tried so far for 90's dry sheng.So again like others have suggested, this could just be a cake per cake issue.

I want to add that despite the mold, I like the 96 Xiaguan Tuo. the mustiness dissipates pretty quickly in a clay jar, and it tastes like a smooth, wet stored puerh with a gentle but obvious qi.

I also want to add that the vendor, Life in a Teacup, is a great, honest, and nice vendor. I have bought tea from them many times in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Nonetheless, my Tuo has mold and probably was more than lightly wet stored.

Xiaguan tuocha is pretty tightly compressed, and the inside will stay pretty clean often, even if the outside chunks are pretty wet-stored. So while there's probably variation from tuo to tuo, there's also probably variation depending on what part of the tea you're drinking.

Personally, I feel like the compression on these things is so tight that some traditional storage is almost essential if you ever want to drink it in this lifetime.

Good point wyardly. It is quite conceivable that I may have received a sample from the inside of the tuo and thought it was dry stored while someone else received a sample from the exterior and found it to be more wet stored.

TokyoB wrote:Good point wyardly. It is quite conceivable that I may have received a sample from the inside of the tuo and thought it was dry stored while someone else received a sample from the exterior and found it to be more wet stored.

MarshalN wrote:Or also that the batch has varying storage conditions, and Gingko, when sending stuff out, especially intact tuos, can't check for sure.

This kind of stuff is definitely possible. It is difficult, especially with some aged cakes like this, to ensure any kind of standard across a sleeve/tong/jian/...box.

It would not be uncommon to encounter a tong of the same cake where some have developed differently than others. (Or a sleeve/box of tuos)